Tuesday, April 30, 2013

It's the last day of the month (WOW!) and that means 12 Kits Day! This month we were treated to a Christmas kit from Sharron Gregory! SO many fabulous things packed into this kit!

First up is a sweet little folk bird from Plum Purdy Designs!

Colored it with Copic markers and glittered it up to match the lovely ribbon. Cut out the branch and added some snowy glitter and berries, too.

Next was an adorable sentiment that I thought went perfectly with my favorite gingerbread guy from Papertrey Ink's Holiday Button Bits.

Some little epoxy hearts, candy cane background paper, and the fun rick rack die cut all went well with my "sweets" theme...

Oh how I love this adorable Plum Purdy Designs "Charlie Brown" primitive tree! I paired it with some of my own things including linen washi tape, a button, and a heat embossed sentiment from Skipping Stones Design's "Christmas Song" set.

I decorated the tree with some mini red gems, pearls, and a sparkling "tinsel" star.

For my final project, a little experiment. LOVED Jessica Witty's card HERE and Suzanne Dahlberg's card HERE featuring "neat" paint dots. I am still afraid of splattering paint or mists, but liked the way their little dots looked like tiny brads!

Hmm...not quite so much on my project. Need more practice and different tools, I think! I used a very small brush, but think that I need something that can actually "drop" the paint, or a stylus like Jess suggested. I have one but it's buried at the bottom of my closet. I was too lazy (and impatient!) to get it once I started the actual painting!

Speaking of "re-dos" I also wish that I had stamped the second half of the sentiment in black :)! The "Twinkle Twinkle" is from a Technique Tuesday set from Sharron, and the "You're my Star" is from Waltzingmouse Stamps "Seasons of Love-Tags" set.

Wasn't this kit AMAZING? I can't wait to see what the other ladies have made with it! Just wanted to say thanks SO much to Sharron for the kit. I hear that next month's kit is already in the mail, so excited when those arrive!

Sunday, April 28, 2013

I discovered the Freshly Made Sketches blog in April and finally got to play along with one of their challenges! I love that they offer clean and simple designs that are wide open for interpretation. Not to mention that the design team's samples provide fabulous inspiration!

I used Playful Pinwheels from Waltzingmouse Stamps for my card. I have been sifting through paint swatches this weekend to find the right color for two rooms in our house. "Coastal" colors and stripes seem to be big themes this year so I had light blues, greys, whites, and a bit of sunshine yellow in mind when I looked through my patterned papers.

Stamped and paper-pieced the pinwheel, then added some dimensionals and a button. You can see a bit of the side panel in this picture. It's a piece of vellum embossed with the A Muse Studio woodgrain impression plate

I am hoping to be back again to play next week since I had such a fun time with this sketch. Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

This month for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop the theme is to include "diagonals" into your project design. Such a fun idea!

I had to make a card with the Birthday Style balloons since I didn't get to use them for a hop yet!

I incorporated a diagonal into my sketch and made a simple little card with lots of fun patterns and colors...even with some diagonal chevrons in the clouds and balloons! I used papers from DCWV "Sunday Afternoon" Collection, and Simple Stories "Vintage Flair" Collection.

The balloons were cut with the Birthday Style dies and the sentiment is from Think Big Favorites #1. I Thinking like Maile...I added little epoxy dots that were from a different collection but just happened to be the right colors and have chevron and dotted patterns on them!

Friday, April 19, 2013

Head on over to Claire's blog HERE as she is hosting a Flower Show today! She has invited spectacular guests to feature floral projects with Waltzingmouse Stamps....and there will be prizes involved, too! Now that's the way to start the weekend, so go and have some fun :)!!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Release day is here! Claire is releasing 3 new stamps sets and they are now available in the Waltzingmouse Stamps store. They are: My Kind of Guy, Nordic Baby, and Man of the Hour.

The Design Team is having a waltz today to feature a few more projects with these sets. Your should be arriving here from Clare Buswell's blog but you can always go back to Claire Brennan's blog if you get lost along the way.

I have 2 more projects today. The first is a colorful but CAS card featuring another awesome sentiment from Man of the Hour. There are so many included in the set that I feel like I have barely scratched the surface with it!

The stars are a combination of sponging and stamping. I used a negative piece from a star die cut for the big ones. I sponged them on first and then added the sentiment over the top. Then I went back in and stamped the mini stars (from the WMS sets Teeny Trees and Yonder Star). The paper is "Urban Traveler" from...you guessed it...Simple Stories!

The second project is a little tag made with Nordic Baby. My first projects with this set were all about pink, so I decided to switch gears and make a baby boy's tag.

Used that knit image again from Faux Fun Circles and fussy cut it to make a pinked edge. It just goes perfectly with this set! I stamped the "Baby" in blue and then colored it in with a white pencil. The "Sweet" is heat embossed in white.

Lastly, I ran the tag through my Cuttlebug with a dotted chevron pattern. It's a newer embossing folder from ProvoCraft (Cuttlebug) called "Charles" and it reminds me of a sweater!

So there you have it, another wonderful release of brilliant designs from our dear Claire! Now if you leave some comments along the waltz, you will increase your chances of being the randomly-selected winner of a Waltzingmouse Stamps set of choice. You will have until Monday, April 22 at 6:59 AM (EST) to leave comments on the DT members' blogs. The winner will be posted on Claire’s blog on Tuesday, April 23.

Thanks so much for all of your lovely comments this week. I always appreciate them so much!!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

**Scroll down for Waltzingmouse Stamps April release preview projects for today's featured set "Man of the Hour"!**

Not only is Waltzingmouse Stamps is releasing new stampsTOMORROW, but today is also a Blog Party day!

The theme this month is Spring Flowers...

...which reminds me! Claire will be hosting a Flower Show from her blog on Friday with some very special guest designers. You won't want to miss it and there will be awesome chances for prizes involved.

The sentiment is from Compact Sentiments. I added lots of dimension and some of those trendy enamel dots...these are Candy Dots from Basic Grey.

Upload your floral creation to Claire's blog HERE. One randomly-selected participant will win a stamp set of choice!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the Release Day Blog Waltz for another chance to win a free stamp set. Claire also runs a competition earlier on her blog, just before the release so keep an eye out for that.

Another day of wonderful previews at Waltzingmouse Stamps! Claire will be releasing 3 new stamp sets tomorrow, Thursday, April 18th. Today we are featuring a set that is a must have for dads! An amazing sentiment set called Man of the Hour.

I did something crazy...I made two 8x10 scrapbook pages! I have only made a mini 6x6 scrapbook on one other occasion for a Mother's Day project. So this is only my second attempt at scrapbooking and I have never had to make pages this big! I ended up placing them in a frame because I don't even own a book to clip them in, hee!

Both of these photos were taken on Father's Day, 2006. It was Jason's first Father's day with two daughters. Eva is a little over 2 in these photos, and Claire is 8 months old. I am not the best photographer, and we've never had the best camera, but I still love these pictures. What fun it was to create a scene around these photos...made me enjoy the day all over again. And the new sentiments from Man of the Hour fit perfectly!

This whole idea started with this photo of Eva. It's on our refrigerator so I see it every day. I love her precious little face and how Jason is looking on in the background...

Chose papers from Simple Stories (again!). The blue hexagon background gave me the idea to make a hexagon sunshine to match. I wanted yellow in the page to match Eva's shirt...is that how you are supposed to choose color schemes when scrapbooking? Lol! Told you I am a rookie!

The centerpiece of my sunshine is this adorable sentiment from Man of the Hour! Is it ever true in our house!

Another sweet sentiment from Man of the Hour under the photo. I also added the little date stamp from My Kind of Guy (also to be released tomorrow).

Up next is my sweet Claire! The idea for the background of this page came from Claire's little garden-embroidered hat in the photo.

Oh that smile on her face as she looks at Jason...melts MY heart!

A garden of hearts made with the stems from Pic-Nic Patterns, a sentiment from Man of the Hour, and little embellished heart die cuts.

A different kind of sunshine for this page made with a circle nestie and 2 cloud die cuts. I actually sliced off the bottoms so that they would be flat. All of the soft pastel papers on Claire's page are from Basic Grey's Fiction collection.

NOTE: Don't forget that today is the Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Party! Claire will post a Mr. Linky set on her blog at 1:30 PM (EST) for you to join in the fun. The theme this month is Spring Flowers. I will be back later with a project.

TOMORROW is release day! We will be back with our traditional release day blog waltz at 2:00 PM (EST) and the 3 new stamp set will be available for purchase in the store!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Claire is releasing 3 new stamp sets in the store this Thursday, April 18th!

Today we are taking a break from the guy sets to spend time with a wee little baby set called Nordic Baby! The images can stand alone but they also look really sweet with images from the previously-released Nordic Winter and Nordic Spring sets.

Up first is a sweet baby card pairing a sentiment from Nordic Baby with a favorite knit circle image from a past set, Faux Fun Circles.

Love the adorable stitched "Baby" sentiment! And some more butterflies...I seem to be obsessed with them lately! I am also loving this paper collection from Simple Stories called "Vintage Bliss." The colors and patterns are beautiful!

For my next card, I used the adorable knit booties from Nordic Baby and some more Vintage Bliss paper.

It's going to be really fun to dress these up booties with little embellishments!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'll be back tomorrow with the previews for the third set. Now for more projects featuring Nordic Baby...

Monday, April 15, 2013

Claire has a wonderful release planned for Waltzingmouse Stamps this month! She will be releasing 3 new stamp sets on Thursday April 18th. Two of the sets focus on the men in our lives and we are debuting the first one today called "My Kind of Guy." It's the most unique stamp set for guys that I have ever seen!

Claire mentioned the Art Deco style of the lettering in the set, so I decided to take to Google searching for some Art Deco inspiration. I found this lovely wedding invitation at zazzle.com and used it as my starting point.

Here is my first card featuring images from "My Kind of Guy"...

I was inspired by the vertical columns and the bold heading of the invitation. I also loved the arches and fancy frames I kept seeing throughout all of the Art Deco samples I came across online.

The detail in the images of this set is amazing! No need for much embellishing, so I used some subtle red chevron paper for the background from the new collection "24/Seven" by Simple Stories and some tiny silver brads.

See that lovely border image along the bottom of the card? Claire had mentioned "brogue" shoes when she revealed this set to us which had me scratching my head a little bit. Maybe it's because I've only heard this type of shoes called "wingtips" before :)!!

So for my second card, I went "shopping" for inspiration! I totally wanted to get a pair of these Magnanni Artea Spectator shoes for my husband Jason...until I saw the hefty $395.00 price tag! So I decided to make a card inspired by them instead. He really only needs his waders and steel-toed work boots at the fish hatchery where he works ;)!

I just loved the colors and the lovely "linen" looking panels. I had recently purchased some handmade linen paper and couldn't wait to try it out on this card. ALERT: Awesome sentiments coming up!

So cool! I am not even sure that these sentiments were meant to be paired together but I love them! I stamped the brogue border with Vintage Photo distress ink and then went in with a Q-tip that had darker Pumice Stone ink on it and added it in. I wanted the multi-colored look of the shoes in the photo.

And that Old Bean with his monocle! Enhanced his a bit with a dew drop. He is stamped in grey ink and then I cut a frame with my circle nesties and inked it up with more Distress inks.

Before I go, an admission. I was singing Justin Timberlake's new song "Suit and Tie" the whole time I was making these cards, hee! You can sing it along with me HERE! (PS...Check out his band signs...and SHOES!)

See you back here tomorrow as the Design Team features another new set. For now, you are sure to find some more wonderful samples featuring this super cool stamp set!

Sunday, April 7, 2013

The first Sunday of the month means a hot date with the Challenge Chicks! This month I am hosting the party...and I say that it's time for some spring cleaning!

This month, the challenge was to dig deep in the closet and find some OLD things to use on a project...old stamps, papers, embellishments, etc. Those things that are on the brink...to keep, to sell, or to donate? I must say that I ended up putting a bunch of stuff in a box just while I was searching for items. It has inspired me to spring clean for the rest of the month. As for the items on this card? They firmly remain in the KEEP pile :)!

I went "wheely wheely" old today, heee! I found my Stampin' Up "Pindot" wheel in a box. Don't know the exact date it came out, but thinking it might be around 1997. I think it was my second stamp purchase ever (in 2002) and I have always loved it. I have a total of 4 little wheels (3 little, 1 big) and sadly, this is the only one that will be saved. My girls were quite curious about this stamping wheel (must be because they have never seen me use it before)!

I paired it with the "Detours" stamp set from October Afternoon, which I think is from 2010. I saw a card with this little deer on it in PaperCrafts magazine and went searching online for the set. It was the first time I had ever heard of them and now I am completely hooked on everything October Afternoon!

I decided on the set because of the small images...it's so much fun mixing and matching smaller sets with these pindot squares. I added some color with Copic markers and little Candy Dots from Basic Grey, then some glitter and pearls on the woodland animals :).

Now it's your turn to start your spring cleaning! Upload your creation to Splitcoaststampers using the keyword CHXAPR13 or you can link your creation to our Facebook page HERE!

Off you go to see what treasures the other Chicks found in the depths of their closets!!

Monday, April 1, 2013

This isn't an April Fool. Well, okay, it kind of is because Suzanne Dahlberg is hosting this special hop today from her blog FOR April's Day. But when I made these cards? THAT is the part that isn't an April Fool's Day joke. I thought they were pretty. So cool, in fact, that I posted them for challenges at Splitcoaststampers! These go back...WAY back before I ever started my blog.

I found 3 that had to be shown today. I'll start off with my #1 ugliest...and 2 honorable mentions if you manage to stick with me that long!

First up is...the winner. The ugliest card ever (everyone has one)....

This was entitled Weathered Flower Thank You card and it was posted at Splitcoast on February 8, 2008. It had 349 views and 0 comments, LOL! Here is what I wrote about it in my description:

"Jury is still out on this one...I think I beat up on it a little too much!! Used to have a stipple plaid background but it kind of disappeared with all of my inking and smudging. In the end, I still like the colors."

I liked the colors? Really? WHAT colors? I think I created this when I had just discovered Tim Holtz Distress inks and apparently I wanted to use the 3 brown colors I purchased all at ONCE!Now for the honorable mentions...for their poor design and garish colors....

This one was entitled "Plaid-Kissed, Rosy Apples." When I dug into my SCS gallery to find this treasure, my eye immediately went to the sentiment. "Just a little something"...hmmm. What did I write on the inside? "....that looks like it's bleeding?" The Aged Mahogany Distress Ink sponging around the sentiment is VERY unfortunate.

Fabulous, eh?! This one is entitled "Faux Faux Fab Flower" posted on April 24, 2008. I tried to make a flower using the Faux Leather technique but did not REALLY use Faux Leather, just my own version of it. And a leather flower...why? :O

So there you have it! Some ugly cards that will do the opposite of brightening your day. I have to admit, it kind of makes me want to cry that I actually sent these to my friends and family members, eeeeek! Link up your own ugliest creation HERE on Suzanne's blog. You have until midnight tomorrow (April 2) to join in the fun!